This invention relates to a golf club organizer installable in a golf bag for supporting and separating the golf club irons in an orderly and organized fashion. The organizer is designed to overcome some disadvantages of golf club supporting devices heretofore used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,212, issued to C. S. Wu, discloses a main frame for holding seven golf clubs in a golf bag, and an auxiliary frame for holding two additional golf clubs. The main frame extends across the diameter of the golf bag, and the auxiliary frame is swingably attached to a side surface of the golf bag so that it can be located above the bar or outwardly beyond one edge of the bag. Each frame is secured to the golf bag by attachment screws. The club holders in each frame form V-shaped slots designed to grip the front and rear faces of a golf club.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,703, issued to K. Dulyea, shows a golf bag organizer that includes an annular ring member secured in the mouth of a golf bag, with inwardly-directed gripper fingers adapted to grip the shafts of golf clubs placed in the golf bag. A lock ring is carried by the annular ring for locking the club shafts against removal from the bag, e.g. when it is desired to transport the bag in the trunk of an automobile. A base having a series of upwardly-facing sockets is positioned in the bottom of the golf bag to stabilize the butt ends of the club shafts against shifting or undesired angulation.
Quick access to the clubs is paramount on today's golf courses since time management has become the priority. Signs are posted at every hole telling the players how much time should be used for each hole. Under these circumstances, access and identification of the clubs can become an essential time saver. Many times clubs are hidden in the bag by the wood covers, or the shorter clubs used as the player approaches the hole, are hidden by the longer irons and/or under the cloth wood covers.
This invention solves the above mentioned problems by displaying all of the irons. The iron club heads are cradled outside the bag opening in numerical order away from the woods. Every iron is held firmly to the inner perimeter wall of the golf bag opening allowing the iron head to protrude out over the periphery of the bag in a fan like array for easy identification. Each iron can be quickly accessed, extracted, and replaced during use.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,617,951 issued to Philip B. Wich, Apr. 8, 1997, and 4,960,212, issued to Chun S. Wu, Oct. 2, 1990, disclose organizers to fit most bags because they mount directly across the center of a bag. However, they can carry no more than seven iron clubs. The center mount causes access problems for shorter irons such as the wedges and putter since the irons heads in the holders hang over the space in which these shorter irons are stored. Both of the structures shown in these patents use alligator clamps to attach the structures to a golf bag opening. These prior art devices comprise multiple parts, e.g., a mainframe, an adjustment leg, and various nuts and bolts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,555, issued to Robert J. Weinmeier, Jan. 24, 1995, uses the periphery of a bag for the irons, but is separated in two by a frame work that takes up the entire bag opening. There is no allowance for the variety of clubs golfers use today, such as chipping irons, lob wedges, long 5 foot putters, ball retrievers, etc.
The prior art club-supporting devices are commonly designed to fit particular golf bag shapes, e.g. round or oval. My golf club organizer or holder is designed to fit a variety of different golf bag shapes, e.g. round, oval, oblong, etc.
One disadvantage of many prior art golf club holders is that the club support has to be permanently affixed to the golf bag. I have designed a golf club holder that can be removably attached to a range of different style golf bags. The golf club holder can be readily removed from one golf bag and mounted on another bag quickly without special tools.
A special feature of my invention is that the golf clubs are arranged around the perimeter of the bag, with the club heads extending outwardly beyond the edge of the bag. A large central space is provided for the other wood clubs. Also, with my golf club holder a relatively large number of golf clubs can be supported in a relatively small size bag. The bag cost, size and weight can be minimized.
The golf club holder of the present invention preferably comprises a bendable upright plastic strip having four downwardly extending legs adapted to grip the upper edge of a golf bag, whereby the plastic strip extends directly above the upper edge of the bag. The plastic strip can be bent into various configurations, to follow the curvature of different bag shapes, e.g. round, oval, oblong, etc.
The plastic strip has its major face area extending vertically so as to have considerable strength in the vertical plane. Upper edge areas of the plastic strip are grooved and offset from the strip major plane, to form angular slots and offset fingers. A golf club iron can be supported in an inverted position in each angular slot, so that the head of the club extends transversely through the slot, and the heel of the club seats against an associated offset finger. The club head is prevented from shifting upward or horizontally out of the slot, whereby the club is retained against dislocation from the carrier (plastic strip). Each slot is angulated so that the golfer can readily insert or remove a golf club by a lateral motion of the club into or out of the space provided by the offset finger.
The slots in the holder are designed to prevent the clubs from vibrating out of the slots when the golf bag is mounted on a motorized golf cart or on a pull cart. Preferably the holder is located a sufficient distance above the mouth of the golf bag so that the golf club irons hang freely from the holder. This allows the shafts and grip areas of the clubs to normally hang straight down in the bag alongside the bag side wall. The club shafts tend to be separated from each other, to avoid damage caused by one club striking another club. The disposition of the iron clubs proximate to the side wall of the bag leaves a relatively large open central space in the bag that can be used to house the wood clubs, ball retrievers, umbrellas, or other specialties.
The downwardly-extending legs used to mount the golf club holder on the golf bag have integral outwardly facing gripper fingers designed to grip the shafts of certain specialty clubs that may be too short for easy access in the golf bag, e.g. the putter, the lob wedge and the chipping iron. Such gripper fingers can be used for gripping and supporting other devices associated with the game of golf, e.g. attachment rings for towels, water bottles, shoe brushes, ball washers, and club or spike cleaning tools.
Preferably the golf club holder is manufactured and packaged in a flat condition. This is advantageous from a manufacturing standpoint and also from a sales point of view, since the package takes up a relatively small space on the shelf or in a suspended display position.
A golf club organizer of the present invention will support eleven iron clubs including the putter and any other special iron such as a chipping iron, or extra wedges. It also leaves ample room in the bag opening for other clubs that are not mentioned.
Nine iron clubs will be firmly stored in specially designed holding pockets. They can be kept in numerical order around the perimeter of the golf bag opening with the club heads protruding out over the periphery of the bag to display each in a fan like array.
The iron club shafts within the bag are kept close to the inner circumference on the golf bag interior. They hang freely avoiding damage to each other, and at a proper height above the bottom of the bag to avoid bottoming out.
The golf club organizer of the present invention is molded flat as a one piece plastic molding, with adequate flexibility to have a 7 inch through 10 inch diameter semi-circle configuration adaptable to 7 to 10 inch golf bag openings.
The specially designed holding pockets are formed to hold the various shaped iron club heads on the market today with few exceptions. The two exterior club hangers are used to carry the putter and any other specialty club a golfer uses most frequently during the game. These two clubs are completely outside of the bag and are quickly accessed by simply pulling up on them. When not in use, these clubs are stored in the golf bag.
The golf club carrier of this invention has four (4) integral clip type leg supports that attach over the lip of a golf bag opening simply by slipping over the lip without undue friction or abrasion. These legs serve to hold the main frame upright and do not have to grip the bag since the curved flexible main frame, which assumes the diameter of the bag opening, will produce the force to hold it in position. Once the iron clubs are loaded into the plurality of holding pockets, the weight of the irons adds to the stability of the organizer.
These four clip legs are reinforced along their vertical axis to form a solid upright structure ready for the repeated abuse of the irons being extracted and replaced many times per game. The combination of the curved main frame flexibility and four reinforced clip legs insures this product will not shift, tip over, or become dislodged once placed on the golf bag.
Further features of the invention will be apparent from the attached drawings and description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention.